It's a brexit one...

[kumbyah]

I've just read that the government have asked schools to state how they will ensure they have enough food for school lunches if there is a no deal on 31st October?
Now I haven't been one to overly worry about brexit and it's effects but this in itself is kind of worrying isn't it? Aibu to think this could really be the case and aibu to be shocked by this?

We are at the high school open evening so I will ask staff what provisions they have made although the provider is the same as for the primary school.

But Brexit won’t happen.

It really won’t, it can’t. The vast huge majority of the ruling class (incl. most of the MPs will simply never vote for any deal, and def won’t ever vote for no deal.

I really don’t think Brexit will happen. It will be postponed again and again. Eventually it will be cancelled.

@rosie39forever I agree. It makes me want to cry

ChickenyChick I admire your optimism, but you don’t sound like you’re up to speed. BJ has found a way to no-deal (let alone just Brexit) and it’s possible he won’t be stopped.

And despite all this worry the Tory's are still the highest polling party.

yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/09/19/political-trackers-17-18-sept-update

I suspect that if we do go out with no deal Johnson will call an election in the hope of losing so the aftermath will be dealt with by another party. Whichever parties gets the clean up are being handed a shitty stick. It'll take far more than 5 years to fix.

It's fucking crazy and I'm furious at the whole thing, what an idiotic idea hey let's dupe the people into voting for food shortages then fuck off with lined pockets.
Grrr farridge grease smug and boris need locking up

Just found Kent County Council's Brexit Preparedness Update dated 12th September 2019 - no particular concerns about school food here;

Executive Summary:
"KCC met with the Department for Education in July 2019 to discuss preparations, including the provision of essential supplies to schools. A considerable number of Kent schools buy meals services through a framework operated on the Council’s behalf by its property services company, Gen² Property Ltd.The main providers on this framework have all provided reassurance that they have considered the risks associated with Brexit and have arrangements in place to minimise disruption to their supply chains.The Fair Access service continues to work with the Transport Integration Unit and Special Schools to ensure adequate transport provision for Special Educational Needs pupils."

"Kent County Council, working with its partners has taken responsible and timely actions to prepare for all eventualities, including a potential no-deal scenario."

^Kent has well-developed plans to ensure we minimise disruption to Kent’s residents and businesses."

"Kent’s no-deal plans have been in place since March 2019.We were prepared, if required, ahead of the previous no-deal deadline (31 March and 12 April 2019).Through close collaborative working with the Department for Transport and Kent Resilience Forum, we have a well-thought through, sensible and practical plan, “Operation Brock”, ready to go live at short notice."

"This will manage potential disruption and delay at the ports, enable Kent to hold up to 12,000 goods vehicles and, for the first time, keep all Kent roads open at all times."

"Should the 12,000 capacity be exceeded, the plan necessitates HGVs bound for mainland Europe to be held outside of the county."

"Kent is in a strong position to ensure the County Council can meet its statutory obligations, that Kent’s public services continue, communities are kept moving, and businesses can continue to trade."

"We have made considerable progress on the outstanding issues in recent weeks and are much encouraged by the level of readiness in both Kent and our counterparts in France."

"We will continue to work closely with government over the next 8 weeks to focus national and local actions on the final arrangements that need to be put in place for a no-deal scenario.In addition, there are a number of outstanding issues still to be finalised by Government" - link here;

democracy.kent.gov.uk/documents/s92050/Item%207%20-%20Brexit.pdf

Also - from one of the links in the Guardian;

"It reveals that the DfE is setting up an operations centre to support schools in the weeks before and after the end of the October, when the country could be set to leave the EU without a deal." (which the Guardian reporter conveniently forgets to mention).

Quite a few Kent based posters been on here saying that the slightest problem snarls up the traffic with a knock on effect on their ability to get to work/school.
Of course the local council would always be absolutely straightforward and those posters are making it up.

"In addition, there are a number of outstanding issues still to be finalised by Government"
Excellent blame dodging comment there, Clav. Did you miss it?

Did you miss it?

I deliberately left that line in (I'm not out to trick anyone) - you can read the rest yourself, which is why I provided the link.

The update sounds very reassuring to me - of course there will be things to finalise in the coming weeks.

Do you live in Kent, Clav? Is it you that needs to be reassured if you don't live there?

If you can afford it then pack lunch will have to be the normal

Do you live in Kent, Clav? Is it you that needs to be reassured if you don't live there?

I thought Kent was supposed to be the county most affected by Brexit? Blocked roads causing fuel shortages? Kent CC's update says they will be able "to keep all Kent roads open at all times."

Read the report - I'm off to Pizza Express.

clav lives in Australia and is a little obsessed with cutting and pasting!

Do you live in Kent, Clav?

No, Clav lives on another planet. The planet of Fiiiiinnnne.

clav lives in Australia

Seriously?

Is Clav in Australia, I thought she was in the UK. Near a Waitrose and lots of farm shops. Just like everyone else 😂😂😂😂

Deliveroo will still be delivering though, right? It's going to be fiiiine.

I work in a school and we've had no guidance. Our kitchen doesn't have space to store more than 2 weeks worth of food. I dread to think what happens after that runs out.

It's truly frightening. You can bet Johnson and the like won't be struggling.

Clavinova - much of what you've pasted is talking about traffic management in Kent rather than the impact of adequate food not reaching the UK at all. A plan to handle outgoing lorries on the M20 is of little relevance to the supply of school meals across the UK.

It reveals that the DfE is setting up an operations centre to support schools in the weeks before and after the end of the October, when the country could be set to leave the EU without a deal."

Is this another secret government plan that may or may not exist, locked in a briefcase somewhere in Whitehall? How does this operations centre know what to plan for - the government has only just started to ask schools, hospitals and institutions for details about what they themselves are doing? Does the centre have complete information regarding the volumes of food required by each institution, the usual supply chains, possible alternatives, contact details of all institutions, suppliers, transport companies etc.? Have the contingency plans been reviewed by these key players? Have the plans been tested? Does 'setting up' mean that this is currently just a plan on a piece of paper, or does it mean that the centre actually exists, with buildings, phones, computers, systems, staff who are trained and ready to work in 4 weeks time?

clav lives in Australia

Of course I don't live in Australia (somewhat random?!) - South East England, but not Kent.

Havanananana

You are delegating too much work to the government - supporting schools doesn't mean doing everything for them, most school food providers, wholesalers, local authorities etc. will have prepared already;

"KCC met with the Department for Education in July 2019 to discuss preparations, including the provision of essential supplies to schools. A considerable number of Kent schools buy meals services through a framework operated on the Council’s behalf by its property services company, Gen² Property Ltd.The main providers on this framework have all provided reassurance that they have considered the risks associated with Brexit and have arrangements in place to minimise disruption to their supply chains."

Although the Guardian article does say;

“The government is already engaging with a wide range of school food stakeholders, including working directly with suppliers, to support industry preparedness and ensure continuous supply ahead of 31 October."

As for adequate food reaching the UK - Dover and Calais both say they are prepared for a 'no-deal' Brexit. The deputy head of the Freight Transport Association gave evidence to a parliamentary committee earlier this month, stating that he expected a "smooth" flow of traffic from the EU into Dover because of the government's customs plans, and the head of the French channel ports says;
“There are certain individuals in the UK who are whipping up this catastrophism for their own purposes.”

You are delegating too much work to the government

An alternative view - the government is abdicating its responsibilities and looking to blame the already over-worked and under-resourced local government agencies if things go wrong.

In times of crisis, is it not the government that has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the country has sufficient food, medicines and vital supplies? Is it not the government that ultimately has to ensure that these are distributed fairly amongst the population? Or is it all down to the free market - those who have money and resources will have what they require, and those who don't won't?

As of today, the government is unable to tell anyone - local authorities, schools, businesses, private individuals - what the situation will be on 31st October. No information is available.

There is a plan called Operation Yellowhammer. The government didn't want anyone to see it in case it frightened the natives. When Parliament insisted on seeing it, Gove released a watered-down version that identified some problem areas, but which gave no details about the scale of the risks, the likelihood of these risks occurring or the mitigation strategy for each risk.

^ the head of the French channel ports says;
“There are certain individuals in the UK who are whipping up this catastrophism for their own purposes.”^

You keep posting this, so I'll continue to respond:

1. The head of the French ports runs the port infrastructure, not the French Customs. If the customs officers decide to take 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds to inspect each and every truck, that's not his area of responsibility.

2. He has a significant financial interest in assuring hauliers that they can continue to use his ports. If they divert to other ports for fear of delays, he loses money.

3. On 31st October the French and Spanish fishing fleets will potentially lose the right to fish in UK waters. What happens to ferry traffic if they decide that 20-30 fishing boats can easily block the entrances to the harbours at Calais, Dunkirk and Santander?

Why are they stockpiling bodybags?

Because body bags are just one example of 'medical related' products we import via the EU and they were mentioned in a list with other products - this is how it was reported in February;

Feb 2019;
"A health minister’s letter aimed at reassuring people that the UK is all set for a no-deal Brexit, reveals that the NHS is stockpiling body bags. It’s prompted Twitter to utilize some dark humour."

"The morbid course of action was disclosed by ITV’s Robert Peston, who released extracts from Health Minister Stephen Hammond’s letter via social media, in which he insists “the government is preparing for all exit scenarios.”

"In his letter, Hammond singles out body bags as “essential products” that come to the UK from or through the EU, which are being stockpiled to mitigate against severe disruption to the NHS."

"The Tory MP for Wimbledon also lists a number of medical products, consumables and equipment, including medicines, vaccines and blood products that are being amassed to cope with a no-deal Brexit scenario."

www.rt.com/uk/451276-nhs-body-bags-brexit/

Stephen Hammond (described as a "notable remainer") obviously chose to mention body bags to 'cause some mischief'. He is of course one of the Tory MPs expelled from the party recently - he was also sacked as vice-chair of the party by Theresa May in 2017 - for voting against her government with Dominic Grieve.

If Stephen Hammond has something specific to say about 'body bags' now is the time to say it...

As of today, the government is unable to tell anyone - local authorities, schools, businesses, private individuals - what the situation will be on 31st October. No information is available.

Hence the 'no-deal' planing, e.g. Kent CC;

"Kent County Council, working with its partners has taken responsible and timely actions to prepare for all eventualities, including a potential no-deal scenario."

"Kent’s no-deal plans have been in place since March 2019.We were prepared, if required, ahead of the previous no-deal deadline (31 March and 12 April 2019)."

"Kent is in a strong position to ensure the County Council can meet its statutory obligations, that Kent’s public services continue, communities are kept moving, and businesses can continue to trade."

"We have made considerable progress on the outstanding issues in recent weeks and are much encouraged by the level of readiness in both Kent and our counterparts in France."

He has a significant financial interest in assuring hauliers that they can continue to use his ports. If they divert to other ports for fear of delays, he loses money.

I don't mind which ports traders use to import/export stuff to the UK.

The head of the French ports runs the port infrastructure, not the French Customs.

Mr Darmanin (head of French customs) "said some 700 extra customs officers have been drafted in and authorities will also introduce online border declarations forcing companies to announce their goods prior to arriving at the border."

^“You are in Grenoble, you are a small or medium-sized company, you export to Britain and so you now declare everything online,” he said.
When all the paperwork is done ahead of time online, trucks will be able to move fast through the border, he said."^

"He said his services are ready to deal with the new paperwork, the new taxes and the additional controls that will be set up."

“We want to make things as painless as possible,”

www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/france-to-run-month-long-customs-rehearsal-for-no-deal-brexit-1.4003891

French customs and Eurotunnel confident of 'smooth' traffic;

"The regional director of French customs, Eric Meunier also said he was confident his team were ready after some two years of preparations." "The 'digital border' is something that has been complex but that finally works today. This is what we have been testing with drills."

www.thelocal.fr/20190918/after-brexit-french-customs-and-eurotunnel-confident-of-smooth-traffic

"Over the last 12 months Brittany Ferries has been actively preparing to deal with a no-deal Brexit. We’ve adapted our IT systems, allowing seamless communication with customs offices ashore. We’ve also implemented a system allowing us to communicate vital information to lorry drivers via text message and on board live information screens."

www.freightlink.co.uk/knowledge/articles/brittany-ferries-prepares-no-deal-brexit

On 31st October the French and Spanish fishing fleets will potentially lose the right to fish in UK waters.

Something to tackle another day perhaps;

"On fishing, Barnier said that the legal position was that EU fishing boats would lose access to UK waters immediately in a No Deal scenario, but that government policy was to pursue a “continuity” approach in the short-term."

"All the rules and regulations of the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) will effectively remain in place having been rolled over by the EU Withdrawal Act" (not to be confused with the Withdrawal Agreement)